Marina Carr’s coherent vision for Blood Wedding delivers a production that is unforgiving, creating a portentous world in which notions of love and freedom will always be trampled by the stronger inheritance of history, violence and family legacy
‘An evening of thought-provoking theatre’: JULIE – National Theatre ★★★
Julie may well be far from a definitive interpretation of Strindberg’s classic, but nonetheless makes for an evening of thought-provoking theatre.
‘Anchored by mesmerising performances’: JULIE – National Theatre
An elegant and occasionally startling adaptation, Julie at the National Theatre is anchored by mesmerising performances from Vanessa Kirby and Thalissa Teixeira.
‘There is nothing meaningful at stake’: JULIE – National Theatre
Sigh. Ok, this is going to hurt because I’m such a supporter of women creatives and want to fight for more opportunities for them but Julie is awful.
‘It is hard to see why Stenham would need to borrow the classic’: JULIE – National Theatre ★★★
Polly Stenham joins the endless line of adaptors and updaters of August Strindberg’s toughly nasty, misogynistic Miss Julie: a play soaked in such fin-de-siecle Nordic hopelessness that it makes Ibsen look like PG Wodehouse.
‘Bears the marks of slightly unsatisfactory imitation’: JULIE – National Theatre
While Polly Stenham retains plenty of Strindberg’s purpose, Julie doesn’t go quite far enough in remoulding the political and psychological shape of its characters for the 21st century.
NEWS: Colin Morgan & Ciarán Hinds to star in Brian Friel’s Translations at the National Theatre, War Horse returns
Casting has been announced for the new National Theatre season, with highlights include Colin Morgan and Ciarán Hinds in Brian Friel’s Translations.
News & interesting titbits: Globe & Bush staffing changes, Long Day’s Journey transfer
You go away for a week, hoping they’ll put any exciting news on hold but no, there were headlines aplenty…
Michelle Terry being revealed as Emma Rice’s successor as Artistic Director of the Globe. I think this is a brave and inspired choice, for Terry is a deeply intelligent actor.
OTHELLO – Shakespeare’s Globe
In light of Roman Tragedies reminding us of the vast potential of what Shakespeare can be rather than the tendency towards the ‘proper’ readings of his work that we tend to get here in the UK (vast generalisations I know, but can you really argue against it…), it’s gratifying to see directors, and venues, taking the opportunity to stretch those traditional notions.
BU21 – Theatre 503
Powerful new play about a terror attack on London has strong passages, but is a bit too frantically humorous.